DRINKING WATER

Smart meters, sensors, and operational systems generate a constant stream of information about water flow, pressure, consumption, and system performance. But data alone doesn't solve problems—it's the ability to understand and act on this information that drives real operational improvements.
DRINKING WATER CASE STUDIES AND WHITE PAPERS
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Small Community Leads Central Florida In Potable Water Reuse Implementation
Altamonte Springs’ implemented a pilot program called the pureALTA project with two primary goals – to serve as platform for future potable water reuse efforts; and to educate the 45,000 residents about the benefits of potable water reuse.
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Indiana American Water Eliminates Gaseous Chlorine At Hidden Lake WTP In Warsaw, Indiana
In 2000, Indiana American Water, a subsidiary of American Water Company, purchased the Warsaw Indiana system which serves a population of over 16,000. Indiana American then completed a Comprehensive Planning Study that included a number of upgrades and improvements to enhance the reliability, safety and water quality of the system.
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Retrofitting Water Systems With The Best Meters For The Job
Although not every water, wastewater, or industrial design engineer or operations manager is familiar with the advantages of the V-Cone differential-pressure (DP) meter design, they are certainly familiar with the problems it can solve. Here is a step-by-step description of how V-Cone meters with + 0.5 percent accuracy offer better alternatives in applications currently being failed by other metering technologies.
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What Your Chlorine Residual Is Trying To Tell You
We look at what your chlorine residual monitoring data is trying to tell you - and provide brief explanations on the subject.
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A Pilot Study Involving Three Different Treatment Media (Loprest)
As part of a feasibility study for arsenic treatment at an elementary school in California, a pilot study was conducted to test the performance of three different treatment media: (1) greensand and anthracite, (2) standard sand and anthracite, and (3) manganese dioxide.
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Encore® 700 Chemical Metering Pumps Provide Precise Coagulant Metering
Water utility operators are increasingly challenged by scrutiny and regulation on disinfection by-product (DBP) levels while trying to manage ever increasing coagulant costs in a tight budget environment.
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Managed Metering Solutions Offer A Strong Business Case
Many municipalities would benefit from a managed solution for water meter reading. However, they often avoid a deep dive into the option after performing a cursory, and flawed, cost-benefit analysis. When properly evaluated, managed solutions frequently provide a better and more viable alternative.
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Smart Meters With Integrated Valves Promote Long-Term Savings
Picture this common scenario for a water utility: A past due account triggers multiple notices to a home, but with no response from the customer, a crew is sent to shut off service. Throughout the process, the municipality racks up other labor costs, including personnel needed to create the work order and a return visit by a crew to restore service once the account is current.
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Gulf Of Mexico's Hypoxic Zone Larger Than Ever
Last year, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) recorded the largest hypoxic zone in the Gulf of Mexico since monitoring began 32 years ago. Hypoxic waters, often referred to as dead zones, have dissolved oxygen concentrations of less than 2-3 ppm. They are caused by eutrophication or excess nutrients that promote algal growth in water bodies. As algae decompose, they consume oxygen creating dead zones.
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Seawater Desalination Using RO Membranes To Support A Thriving Agricultural Economy
As the agriculture economy boomed, needs for freshwater demanded by irrigation, tourism and the local community also grew in Campo de Dalías, a coastal region on the Mediterranean Sea. As a result, the region faced overexploitation of groundwater aquifers. Read the full case study to learn how Toray was selected as the sole membrane supplier for a two-pass system for a newly implemented national desalination plan.
DRINKING WATER APPLICATION NOTES
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Reduce Or Eliminate Water Hammer With Valve Positioners5/19/2022
Water hammer, which can occur in just about any pumping system and even steam systems, can lead to pipe breakage, equipment damage or even total system failure. Addressing water hammer at the source is the savviest and most cost-effective way to handle the issue.
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Ultrapure Water For Determination of Toxic Elements In Environmental Analyses4/10/2018
In this paper the importance of reagent water quality for toxic element environmental analyses is discussed, and the suitability of fresh ultrapure water produced using MilliporeSigma water purification systems for ICP-OES and ICP-MS trace element analyses in environmental laboratories is demonstrated.
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Improved Efficiencies In TOC Wastewater Analysis For Standard Method 5310B And EPA Method 41510/16/2014Total organic carbon (TOC) measurement is of vital importance to the operation of water treatment due to organic compounds comprising a large group of water pollutants. TOC has been around for many years, and although it is a relatively simple analysis in theory, operational efficiency is paramount.
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Optimizing Brine Flow In A Geothermal Power Plant1/27/2022
Different flow meter technologies were used in this geothermal power plant to monitor and measure brine. However, these traditional technologies failed. That’s where Panametrics PT900 Portable Ultrasonic Flowmeter was able to help.
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Scrubber Application1/27/2022
This customer supplies district heating and electricity for the region of Sønderborg. For one of their waste applications a MAG meter failed within 6 months, and was successfully replaced with a Panametrics Aquatrans AT600.
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Preliminary Assessment Of Water Quality In Riviera Grise Near Port-Au-Prince, Haiti10/17/2012
The Riviera Grise drains water from the Cul-de-Sac watershed, Haiti, which covers most of the rural areas along the flood plains and areas that extend into steep hillsides. It also covers urban areas of Port-Au-Prince, the capital city of Haiti.
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Analyzing Total Organic Carbon In Sea Water4/2/2015
The analysis of Total Organic Carbon (TOC) in seawater can be both challenging and expensive. The concentration of organic carbon in seawater is of considerable interest. The effect this matrix can have on TOC analyzers can lead to rapid consumable turnover, costly maintenance and repairs.
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Application Note: Busseron Creek Watershed Partnership Addresses Concerns In A Rural Watershed1/20/2010As with other watershed organizations, the Busseron Creek Watershed Partnership (BCWP) exists because of surface water quality degradation. In this case, those waters drain 163,231 acres of a watershed that crosses the boundaries of Vigo, Clay, Green, and Sullivan counties in West- Central Indiana. By YSI
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LC-MS Analysis Of 33 PFAS Compounds In 5 Minutes11/4/2021
In response to environmental testing demands for faster LC-MS analyses, the new Ascentis® Express PFAS HPLC and delay columns allow the highly efficient separation of 33 PFAS compounds in 5 minutes with reduced background contamination.
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'TOTEX' Is Key When Purchasing Instrumentation4/29/2021
There’s a lot to be considered in the price tag of an ultrasonic instrument. Derek Moore from Siemens explains how the historical way of thinking only of capital costs needs to change to the more holistic approach of total expenditures.
LATEST INSIGHTS ON DRINKING WATER
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The business case for industrial water reuse has fundamentally shifted. Companies once evaluated these systems against environmental goals or regulatory compliance costs. Today, they're measuring them against operational risk and supply security — a calculation that increasingly favors reuse regardless of sustainability credentials.
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Non-revenue water is a global problem. Around 30% of drinking water is lost on its way to the consumer, imposing a huge economic loss that increases the overall cost of water treatment. The good news: By combining smart metering, hydraulic modeling, and AI, utilities can effectively increase their operational efficiency, reduce water losses, and optimize the utilization of increasingly scarce resources.
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On numerous levels, oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) outperforms the presently predominant metric for evaluating disinfection performance.
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The most common techniques for disposing of PFAS may no longer be good enough.
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Lessons in urban water management through water conservation, capture, and reuse.
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A decade of collaboration and toil creates a pipeline to enduring water security.
ABOUT DRINKING WATER
In most developed countries, drinking water is regulated to ensure that it meets drinking water quality standards. In the U.S., the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administers these standards under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA).
Drinking water considerations can be divided into three core areas of concern:
- Source water for a community’s drinking water supply
- Drinking water treatment of source water
- Distribution of treated drinking water to consumers
Drinking Water Sources
Source water access is imperative to human survival. Sources may include groundwater from aquifers, surface water from rivers and streams and seawater through a desalination process. Direct or indirect water reuse is also growing in popularity in communities with limited access to sources of traditional surface or groundwater.
Source water scarcity is a growing concern as populations grow and move to warmer, less aqueous climates; climatic changes take place and industrial and agricultural processes compete with the public’s need for water. The scarcity of water supply and water conservation are major focuses of the American Water Works Association.
Drinking Water Treatment
Drinking Water Treatment involves the removal of pathogens and other contaminants from source water in order to make it safe for humans to consume. Treatment of public drinking water is mandated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the U.S. Common examples of contaminants that need to be treated and removed from water before it is considered potable are microorganisms, disinfectants, disinfection byproducts, inorganic chemicals, organic chemicals and radionuclides.
There are a variety of technologies and processes that can be used for contaminant removal and the removal of pathogens to decontaminate or treat water in a drinking water treatment plant before the clean water is pumped into the water distribution system for consumption.
The first stage in treating drinking water is often called pretreatment and involves screens to remove large debris and objects from the water supply. Aeration can also be used in the pretreatment phase. By mixing air and water, unwanted gases and minerals are removed and the water improves in color, taste and odor.
The second stage in the drinking water treatment process involves coagulation and flocculation. A coagulating agent is added to the water which causes suspended particles to stick together into clumps of material called floc. In sedimentation basins, the heavier floc separates from the water supply and sinks to form sludge, allowing the less turbid water to continue through the process.
During the filtration stage, smaller particles not removed by flocculation are removed from the treated water by running the water through a series of filters. Filter media can include sand, granulated carbon or manufactured membranes. Filtration using reverse osmosis membranes is a critical component of removing salt particles where desalination is being used to treat brackish water or seawater into drinking water.
Following filtration, the water is disinfected to kill or disable any microbes or viruses that could make the consumer sick. The most traditional disinfection method for treating drinking water uses chlorine or chloramines. However, new drinking water disinfection methods are constantly coming to market. Two disinfection methods that have been gaining traction use ozone and ultra-violet (UV) light to disinfect the water supply.
Drinking Water Distribution
Drinking water distribution involves the management of flow of the treated water to the consumer. By some estimates, up to 30% of treated water fails to reach the consumer. This water, often called non-revenue water, escapes from the distribution system through leaks in pipelines and joints, and in extreme cases through water main breaks.
A public water authority manages drinking water distribution through a network of pipes, pumps and valves and monitors that flow using flow, level and pressure measurement sensors and equipment.
Water meters and metering systems such as automatic meter reading (AMR) and advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) allows a water utility to assess a consumer’s water use and charge them for the correct amount of water they have consumed.